Tankertoad's Tuesday Takes

Although I sometimes disagree with Kyle's historical analysis as a means to look at current games, I will give credit that it shows upsets can happen. South Carolina winning wasn't an upset; the upset was how we took the field. Beating Florida wasn't an upset; it was just a little heart wrenching to get through. However, Auburn beating Georgia this week would really, truly be an upset. It would shock both schools, the sports world, Vegas and frankly anyone that takes note of it. History has shown you can never over look anyone at any time, and this Saturday is no different. Georgia needs to go out and play its game, play it fully and soundly, and finish the drill. Normally, I try and figure out X and Os around here, but for this week, there simply isn't that much to analyze. Auburn is a terrible SEC team, and Georgia is a pretty darn good one. We are better coached, we have better players, we have a better system, we have a more solid fan base, we have momentum and we have the emotional edge. The one thing Auburn possibly has is some hate spilling over into an emotional surge at one point in the game. Sometimes, in a game like this, the lesser team gets that one turnover, that one big return perhaps, that gives just a dollop of hope, and turns an easy win for one team into a very long day. Auburn is full of vile bitterness right now, and they will be happy to use that to their advantage.

The key for Georgia will be to go out and play their game, and play every snap, every down, every second until the game is over. It's sounds like that should be true always, and it is, however, we know in college football the easiness to mentally take a week off. In this case, Georgia needs to whoop their tiger tail just as they can and should. Meet expectations! If Auburn does happen to get that one big play, Georgia should use that to fuel putting an even bigger beat down on them. I apologize if y'all are looking for better analysis; it's just pretty straight forward this week. Georgia should be able to pass and run at will. Our defense should stop them fairly fully. My only concern is we dial up to conservative a game-plan in an attempt to control the clock and field (not completely a bad idea) and get too vanilla. We still need to play our game and play it hard. There are no secrets we can keep from film at this point, and if we are running trick plays then it is truly a bad day. Play aggressive, but smart.

Georgia should win big and win easy. I am comfortable to say 42-10. I know on paper this is no problem at all. I simply can't predict how Mark Richt will approach a game such as this. We tend to be too timid, too reserved, and too conservative at times, making an easy game seem harder than we should. I hope we are learning we have to go out and put down an Oregon in a game like this, it's better for both sides if we are up 30-0 at the half. I just never really expect us to do that. I do know from the Buffalo match not to take any single opponent for granted, and I hope the players know to play just as hard this Saturday as they did in other games. We need to be smart. We need to not let their trick plays and dirty plays get to our heads. Oh, and I really do expect some dirtiness and chipiness. The answer for that is not to open our mouths, but to hit them in the mouth in a proper fair football manner. Block better, tackle better, run better, and play with more finesse and certainly more energy and tempo. That's how we beat Auburn, and we darn sure should. One bonus bit of actual X and O analysis - we should run all over them, likely Gurley has a great day, and Marshall gets back to it as well. A couple of big runs by one or both of those tailbacks is easily in the works. Saying Murray will score 2 TDs is almost a given. So, there's a touch of X and O stuff! Most importantly,

GO DAWGS!